Photographers of Ukrainian natural treasures awarded

The best photos of natural treasures of Ukraine have been awarded in the 'Wiki Loves Earth' competition. It is organized by the official representative of the Wikimedia Fund in the country.

WWF is one of the partners of the initiative, which aims to share knowledge about the world natural heritage.

A total of 12,053 photos were uploaded. They have to show sites from the official list of the natural treasures of Ukraine. The collection will be used for illustration of articles in the Wikipedia online resource.

“The photos of monuments of nature, no matter how important they may be, are key for spreading the knowledge about the natural treasures, particularly through the Wikipedia articles”, said Alena Zubchenko, international coordinator of the ‘Wiki Loves Earth’ project.

Unfortunately, not all of the country's nature beauties are protected by the government, including the botanical phenomenon 'Tunnel of Love'.

Ekaterina Kurakina from WWF in Ukraine said: “The more people know about the natural beauty of Ukraine, the more they will be eager to protect the biodiversity, to improve the ecological status and to support the protected areas of the country”.

The 10 best photos

Winner of the competition is the photo of Vitaliy Bashkatov of “Demirci Rocks. Demirci Yayla Sanctuary, Autonomous Republic of Crimea”.

2nd place – “View of Carpathian National Park from Hoverla. Carpathian National Park, Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast” by Dmytro Balhovitin.